#2 The Earth, the Greenhouse Effect, and the Carbon Cycle

These flashcards cover the key concepts related to Earth's systems, the greenhouse effect, and the carbon cycle, essential for understanding environmental chemistry and ecology.

Lithosphere/Geosphere

The most rigid outer layer of the earth, composed of the crust and brittle mantle, shortly it is a shell of rocky planet.

Hydrosphere

The total amount of water on a planet, including the surface, underground, and atmospheric water. Can be liquid, vapor, or ice.It encompasses oceans, rivers, lakes, and glaciers, playing a crucial role in supporting life and regulating climate.

Atmosphere

A layer of gas and suspended solids extending from the Earth's surface up many thousands of miles, becoming increasingly thinner with distance but always, held by gravitational pull.

Biosphere

Includes all life on our planet, not only all living things, but also the remains of organisms that have died and not yet decomposed.

Greenhouse Effect

The natural warming of the Earth when gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun that would otherwise escape into space.

Global Warming

The long-term increase in Earth's surface temperature observed since the pre-industrial period due to human activities.

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants and some organisms convert light energy, water, and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen. Moves carbon from inorganic to organic form.

Respiration

The process of breaking down glucose into usable energy (ATP), releasing carbon dioxide and water. Moves carbon from organic to inorganic.

Decomposition

The process by which dead organic material is broken down, resulting in the release of carbon dioxide.

Autotroph

An organism that produces its own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot produce its own food and relies on other sources of organic matter.

Biogeochemistry Cycle

The movement of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms and the environment.

Biotic

Living things within an ecosystem (plants, animals, and bacteria, etc..)

Abiotic

Non-living components of an ecosystem (sunlight, water,minerals, soil and atmosphere).

Shortwave radiation

energy/light/radiation that comes from the sun. When it hits Earth’s surface, it bounces back into the air and becomes longwave radiation.

Longwave radiation

energy/light/radiation that bounces back up into the atmosphere.

Carbon

Key component of all known life on Earth. Carbon is abundant, lightweight and relatively small - easier for enzymes to manipulate carbon molecules.

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownishblack sedimentary rock with a high amount of carbon and hydrocarbons. Coal is classified as organic because it forms mainly from the compressed remains of ancient plants

Source

a pool that releases more of a molecule than it accepts (through emissions or runoff).

Sink

a pool that absorbs more of a molecule than it releases, helping to regulate the carbon cycle.